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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Didier Drogba's classy Instagram message as Chelsea and Roman Abramovich make amazing gesture

It's almost a week since Premier League football was suspended until April 4th due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The big news this week is that Euro 2020 has been pushed back by 12 months and the tournament is now scheduled to take place next summer, thus creating space for domestic leagues to finish the season.

But will the season resume early next month or will it have to be void?

Willian showing off his skills

Plenty of questions remain unanswered about Chelsea who currently occupy the final Champions League spot, still have to play a round of 16 second leg tie away at Bayern Munich and have an FA Cup quarter-final date with Leicester City.

As ever, football.london will keep you across all the latest developments regarding an emergency Premier League meeting which is set to take place today.

With that said, here's all the news from around Stamford Bridge over the past 24 hours.

Sky Sports announce brilliant plan

Sky have confirmed that football fans will be able to pause their sports subscriptions as a result of the significantly reduced coverage on their platforms due to the coronavirus outbreak.

All professional football in England has been postponed until April 3 at the earliest, with schedules, as a result, being drastically impacted.

Both Sky and BT Sport previously stated that they would not be refunding customers who were missing out on their usual bumper of live sporting events.

But on Tuesday, Sky announced that subscribers to their sports channels can now pause their subscriptions without charge until football returns.

A statement from Sky, first published on WalesOnline, read: "While we expect that many of the recently postponed sports events will eventually go ahead, if you wish to pause your sports subscription in the meantime you will not be charged a fee to do so or be held to any notice period.

"Meanwhile we continue to provide high quality content across all of our 11 sports channels."

Chelsea and Roman Abramovich's amazing gesture

In an amazing gesture from Chelsea and owner Roman Abramovich, the Millennium Hotel at Stamford Bridge is available to accommodate NHS staff during the coronavirus outbreak.

"Many of the medical staff will be working long shifts and may not be able to travel home or would otherwise have to make long commutes," a statement reads. "Local accommodation helps maintain the health and well-being of these crucial personnel at this critical time.

"This will be for a two-month period, and then reconsidered in light of circumstances at the time. NHS staff will be those working in hospitals in the North-West London region, but that may extend to hospitals in other districts.

"The number of rooms utilised will depend on demand but potentially all the rooms in the Millennium Hotel could be given over for this purpose.

"No staff showing symptoms will use the hotel.

"Millennium Hotels and Resorts, who manage the hotel, are supportive and assisting the club in providing this service to the NHS."

Drogba praises Mikel

Chelsea legend Didier Drogba has backed former teammate John Obi Mikel's decision to mutually terminate his contract at Trabzonspor.

The former Blues midfielder took to social media and explained his stance amid his unhappiness at Turkish football still playing games despite the coronavirus outbreak which has affected most of Europe.

"There is more to life than football," he wrote on Instagram. "I do not feel comfortable and do not want to play football in this situation.

"Everyone should be home with their families and loved ones in this critical time. Season should be cancelled as the world is facing such turbulent times."

This prompted a big reaction from fellow footballers, most notably Drogba who responded to his former teammate with a classy Instagram message.

"Words of wisdoms," he wrote.

Huge John Terry compliment

Former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer has said that Chelsea legend John Terry was "everything you wanted in a captain".

The ex-central defender - now assistant head coach at Aston Villa - made almost 500 top-flight appearances for the Blues prior to hanging up his boots and captained the side to five Premier League titles.

And among some of the greatest captains of the Premier League era - including Roy Keane, Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira, Steven Gerrard and Vincent Kompany - Shearer has paid Terry a huge compliment.

Chelsea's Captain John Terry (C) lifts the Barclays Premiership trophy alongside the rest of the team during the celebration after the game against Charlton at Stamford Bridge in London 07 May 2005. (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

"He was everything you wanted in a captain," Shearer told the Match of the Day: Top 10 podcast.

"He had the respect of managers, fans and players.

"He wasn't liked by other fans, but it didn't affect him - it probably spurred him on if anything, and he delivered."

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